The reason for the disappearance of national languages ​​was globalization, the disappearance of national characteristics and traditions, and characteristic differences in lifestyle. People who do not live in a closed, isolated group have to communicate with each other in some common language. Magazines and books are published in this language, television programs are conducted and business communication is carried out. In this case, children learn at least two languages ​​- the common, state language, and the one that their parents speak at home in the family. After a generation or two, the practical need for the language spoken by the ancestors disappears and gradually the next national language disappears - no one communicates in it anymore. There are also economic reasons why it is easier to communicate between people in a single language. The use of different languages ​​complicates international communication, which in this case requires a large staff of translators. If finding a translator for the world's largest languages ​​is not a problem, then with the translation of small ones that have survived and are active to this day, it sometimes becomes simply insoluble. Institutes do not train specialists in all the languages ​​that humanity uses today. Sometimes the reason for the disappearance of a particular language is not only assimilation, but also the physical disappearance of small nationalities that have failed to adapt to modern living conditions. Be that as it may, population censuses show that the number of such nationalities to which Russians consider themselves is each time reduced by several dozen. Linguists say that if the current rate of disappearance of national languages ​​continues, then already in this century their number will decrease by 90%. When children are no longer taught their native language, it goes into the stage of dying, but this process is reversible. As world practice shows, using the example of the revival of Hebrew or Welsh, if the necessary measures are taken in time, national languages ​​can be revived. Moreover, many young people today demonstrate a desire to know their historical roots and the language their ancestors spoke.

According to linguists, in a hundred years more than half of the 7,000 languages ​​currently existing on our planet will disappear. Google has proposed its Endangered Languages ​​project to preserve rare languages.

Google has introduced an international interactive Internet project whose goal is to save endangered languages. The project is being implemented on the website endangeredlanguages.com, presented in various languages, including . Currently, this online resource contains materials on 3,054 endangered languages, and the list continues to grow.

The project website has an interactive map on which you can see the place of residence of speakers of a particular rare language. Languages ​​are represented by multi-colored circles. Red means languages ​​that are seriously endangered, orange means endangered languages, green means rare languages ​​with a consistently small number of speakers, and gray means languages ​​whose status is currently unknown. The website provides a description of each, information about prevalence, as well as audio and video recordings of speech from native speakers.

The languages ​​preserved by Google primarily include the languages ​​of small nations around the world. In the era of advancing globalization, it is becoming increasingly difficult for small ethnic communities to preserve their language and culture. Small nations are forced to assimilate, dissolving into a larger ethnic group and losing their cultural and linguistic uniqueness.

In North America, the Endangered Languages ​​project has protected the languages ​​of indigenous tribes in Canada, Mexico and the United States. In Australia, the languages ​​of the Australian aborigines are among the endangered languages, and in New Zealand - the language of the Maori people. Among the languages ​​saved by Google, there are many whose speakers live in Russia: Votic, Khanty, Mansi, Komi-Permyak, West Mari, East Mari, Udmurt, Nenets, Altai, several dialects of Sami and many others.

Video on the topic

Sources:

• Languages ​​in danger of extinction

Tip 3: What Google is doing to preserve endangered languages

Google is engaged not only in the development of the search engine of the same name, but also in other Internet projects. In particular, in 2012, a special portal dedicated to rare and endangered languages ​​was opened.

In the 20th century, there was a clear trend towards a reduction in the number of languages. This was a consequence of globalization and increasingly active migration of people. Of the approximately 7,000 languages ​​in the world, 2,000 are endangered. Some languages ​​have fewer than 100 speakers left.

Due to the risk of extinction of many languages ​​of the world, Google has created a special portal called Endangered Languages. With it, you can save information about rare languages ​​using . The site can be used both by linguists and simply by people interested in global linguistic diversity.

For clarity, one of the pages of the resource contains a language map of the world. On it you can see where the habitats of people speaking rare dialects are located. Also, depending on the color code, you can find out how many people still use a rare language in everyday life.

For each endangered language, it is planned to create its own page within the resource. It will indicate not only the number of speakers of the adverb, but also whether the language belongs to a particular linguistic group, as well as information about the presence of writing and the specifics of grammar. A unique element of the project should be video recordings with native speakers. In this way, it is planned to preserve information about the specifics of phonetics and pronunciation in various languages. A person living on the other side of the globe will be able to hear the sound of the dialects of the peoples of Africa, the Caucasus or Australia.

The site, developed by Google, should become not only a source of information, but also a reminder that over time, the linguistic wealth of the Earth is decreasing, and that it is necessary to support small peoples and languages ​​to preserve the world's cultural wealth.

Video on the topic

Sources:

• Endangered Languages ​​project website

Every two weeks, somewhere on the globe, a language goes extinct. This fate is thought to befall about forty percent of all languages ​​in the world. A recent study has highlighted those that are most at risk. Every two weeks, somewhere on the globe, a language goes extinct. This fate is thought to befall about forty percent of all languages ​​in the world. A recent study has highlighted those that are most at risk.

Counting to three in the Nivkh language is not an easy task, and a simple “one-two-three” won’t do it. Nivkh numerals sound differently depending on what is being counted: skis, boats or bundles of dried fish. There are twenty-six counting methods in the language. It is not surprising that ninety percent of Nivkhs prefer to communicate in Russian, which is why their language is on the endangered lists - along with many others.

Linguists have calculated that by the end of the century, half of the currently existing languages ​​will disappear. Eighty percent of the world's population speaks the eighty most common languages ​​(English, Russian, Chinese, etc.), and speakers of three and a half thousand minor languages ​​make up only 0.2 percent.

According to David Harrison, author of When Languages ​​Die, the rate of language extinction is currently unprecedented.

languages ​​are disappearing faster than animal and plant species. More than forty percent of languages ​​are under threat, but only eight percent of plant species and eighteen of mammals.

When another species of dolphins or, for example, eagles becomes extinct, many are overcome with sentimental feelings, someone mourns them, but the death of the language often goes unnoticed, although this happens much more often - on average once every two weeks. The main reasons are globalization and population migration. Under economic pressure, people move from villages to cities, and local dialects give way to Koine, the language used for communication in the city. The choices children make play a significant role. Thus, a child who grew up in a bilingual home where Spanish and Mayan were spoken may decide that Spanish is better because it is spoken in school and on TV.

Research conducted by Harrison and Living Languages ​​Institute director Greg Anderson has identified five main regions where languages ​​are dying out at a particularly rapid rate. This is the north of Australia, the central part of South America, the state of Oklahoma along with the southwest of the USA, northwest Oceania and Eastern Siberia.

During the research, scientists met with an Australian named Charlie Mungulda, a resident of the administrative district of the Northern Territory (Australia) and probably the last speaker of the Amur Dag language, previously considered extinct. Dr. Harrison gave us recordings of an elderly Charlie repeating from memory the words of his late father. After a long pause, Harrison himself adds with a sigh: “You have just listened to the last thing that will be heard in the Amurdag language. The only hope remains is that someone endowed with the gift of imitating the pronunciation of someone else’s language will be able to voice a list of one hundred words that With difficulty, linguists scraped together one of these words - aburga, “Rainbow Serpent” (a monster from Australian mythology - approx.).

The loss of language leads to the loss of a set of cultural instincts. The fact that Eskimos have many words to denote snow, and Africans to denote rice, has long been known and is stuck in everyone’s teeth. But did you know that in the Toratan language (Sulawesi Island, Indonesia) there is a word for the situation when you woke up and noticed that something had changed? For example, did you fall out of bed in a dream? This word is "matuwuhou"!

But if you, for example, had a chance to herd deer with the Todzha people (southern Siberia), and you would like to point out a charming castrated deer of five years old, fit for saddle? You would need the word enchantment.

Loss of language also entails loss of self-awareness. Serge Sagna, a Senegalese PhD student at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, can personally attest that this is true. He recently returned to his native village to study the Bandyal language. According to him, “my identity is inextricably linked to my native language, which reflects a unique vision of the world and history, without which we cannot move forward.”

The Bandyal language is losing ground in Senegal. It is being replaced not only by French, which dominates such areas as entrepreneurship and education, but also by Wolof, the language of rap lyrics, the language of the streets and the language of Mbala dance. Even Sanya himself reluctantly admits that in two generations his language will disappear.

But perhaps an even more important fact is that both individual words and cultural diversity represent important elements of human knowledge that a dying language takes with it to the grave.

Dr. Harrison gave us his vision of the problem. “We live in the information age, therefore, information and knowledge should be valued, but instead we are throwing overboard the values ​​that have accumulated over thousands of years. After all, much of what is known about endangered animals is known only to speakers of endangered languages, many of whom have never had writing. Thus, by saving languages, we may be saving species and entire ecosystems.”

Here is Exhibit A, a butterfly of the species Astraptes fulgerator from Central America. For a long time it was mistakenly believed that all these butterflies belonged to the same species, but the Indians from the Tzeltal tribe (Mexico) knew the truth. The Tzeltal language has a clear naming system that distinguishes several types of caterpillars depending on what plants they eat. Recently, Western science has caught up with the Indians. Biologists now know of at least ten species that were previously thought to be one and the same.

Similarly, Kayapo speakers (Brazil, 4,000 people) know the difference between fifty-six species of bees - depending on a number of factors, including the typical flight path and the quality of the honey produced.

Herbal healers from the Bolivian Callaway tribe went even further. Over the past five hundred years, they have systematized their knowledge of thousands of medicinal plants and encrypted them, creating a secret language for this, passed down in families of healers from father to son. A kind of patent system.

According to Harrison, "Kallawaya is a perfect example of a language that can be patented for both its form and content, for the economic well-being of the tribe that originated it and for protection from the vicious pharmaceutical corporations out for easy money."

What can be done to prevent the death of the language and the knowledge stored in it?

Australian Doris Edgar is one of three remaining native Yawuru speakers. His wife, despite being eighty years old, visits schools in Broome, Western Australia, trying to interest schoolchildren in the names of local plants in the Yawuru language, as well as their uses.

Dr. Anderson estimates that complete tongue fixation costs two hundred thousand dollars and takes three to four years. According to him, “we have enough people and the desire to do this, but not enough money.”

According to UNESCO forecasts, by the end of the century, half of the planet’s languages ​​will disappear, and some of them will be in the territory of the former USSR.

In 2010, UNESCO published the Atlas of the World's Endangered Languages, listing 2,500 languages ​​and dialects. In Europe alone, experts have counted 212 endangered languages, another 13 are in critical condition and will disappear in the very near future.

A language is considered endangered if only a few representatives of the older generation speak it, while children can still understand them, but grandchildren can no longer understand them. We decided to talk about five endangered languages ​​of the former USSR.

Latvia: Livonian language

0 native speakers, 40-50 practitioners

The Liv language from the Finno-Ugric subgroup of languages ​​began to die back in the 13th century. Its last bearer, Victor Berthold, died in 2009. However, about four dozen enthusiasts have learned the language and can speak it. Currently, approximately 200 students are studying it at universities in Latvia, Estonia and Finland.

Russia, Norway, Sweden: Sami languages

2-20 carriers

Sami languages ​​are spoken in northern Europe's Lapland region, which stretches from Norway through Sweden and Finland to the tip of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Ten different Sami languages ​​survive, some of them extremely diverse: for example, some Sami speakers know 300 ways to say the word “snow”. Due to the fact that the Sami (Lapps) were divided by state borders, some languages ​​began to be forgotten. Thus, today the Terek-Sami language, spoken by the Sami in villages in the eastern part of the Kola Peninsula, has almost disappeared. There are about 100 ethnic Terek Sami left, and, according to 2010 data, only two of them know the language. It is almost impossible to learn this language, since there is no standardized writing, grammar descriptions and no teaching. The Babin Sami language (Akkala) is also on the verge of extinction: its last speaker, Maria Sergina, died in 2003. In the village of Yona on the Kola Peninsula, attempts are being made to restore the language - a grammar has been published and audio recordings are available.

Norwegians and Swedes once communicated in the Pite Sami and Uma Sami languages. Now both of these languages, which do not have a written language, are dying out: there are 10 speakers of the first and 20 speakers of the second left. Most of them live in the Arjeplog region of Sweden.

Russia: Votic language

6-20 carriers

The language of a small nationality has been preserved only in two villages in the Leningrad region on the border with Estonia: Krakolye and Luzhitsy. It is on the verge of extinction, since, according to various sources, from 6 to 20 people speak it. The Votic language became unpopular after World War II, and many people stopped communicating in it due to it being viewed as the language of “uneducated peasants.” Scientists and enthusiasts are saving the language from extinction: despite the lack of written language, they compiled dictionaries, grammar, and in 2014 a self-instruction manual by amateur linguist Vitaly Chernyavsky was published.

Moldova, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria:
Gagauz language

About 100 speakers of the Bulgarian dialect

In 2012, UNESCO classified the Gagauz language as endangered: it is spoken by residents of Moldova, the Odessa region of Ukraine, a little in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - in total there are no more than 160,000 speakers. The rarest variety of this Turkic language is the Bulgarian dialect: its homeland is considered to be the Ludogorie region in Bulgaria. Scientists do not know how many native speakers are alive today, but five years ago there were about 100 of them - most of them were elderly people, and they lived in the resort city of Varna.

Crimea, Lithuania, Ukraine: Karaite language

126 carriers

This language of nomads, somewhat similar to Yiddish, was used by residents of Crimea, various regions of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. There are three main dialects: Galich, Lithuanian and Crimean. Today there are only six speakers left in Western Ukraine, about fifty in Lithuania and about 70 speakers of the Karaite language in Crimea. The Lithuanian dialect or Trakai can be heard by visiting the ancient castle in the city of Trakai, half an hour’s drive from Vilnius. Galich or southern is found in the cities of Galich and Lutsk. The Crimean dialect is very different from other dialects, as it was greatly influenced by the Turkish language during the Turkish domination of Crimea in the 15th-18th centuries.

Just because almost no one speaks them doesn’t mean they should be forgotten.

You never know, maybe some of you, after reading this article, will want to become more familiar with one of the languages ​​listed below. There is something mysterious and enigmatic about them, something that will attract any polyglot.

10. Akkadian

When appeared: 2800 BC

Disappeared: 500 AD

General information: lingua franca of ancient Mesopotamia. The Akkadian language used the same cuneiform alphabet as Sumerian. The epic of Gilgamesh, the myth of Enuma and Elisha and many others are written on it. The grammar of a dead language resembles the grammar of classical Arabic.

The advantages of studying it: people will be very impressed when they see that you can easily read these strange icons for them.

Disadvantages of studying it: It will be difficult for you to find an interlocutor.

When appeared: 900 BC

Disappeared: 70 BC

General information: The Old Testament was written on it, which was later translated into ancient Greek or, as it is commonly called, the Septuagint.

The advantages of studying it: Biblical is very similar to modern spoken Hebrew.

Disadvantages of studying it: It won't be easy to talk to someone on it.

8. Coptic

When appeared: 100 AD

Disappeared: 1600 AD

General information: it contains all the literature of the early Christian church, including the Nag Hammadi library, which contains the famous Gnostic Gospels.

The advantages of studying it: it is the basis of the Egyptian language, created using the Greek alphabet, and it sounds absolutely amazing.

Disadvantages of studying it: alas, no one speaks it because Arabic has supplanted it.

When appeared: 700 BC

Disappeared: 600 AD

General information: for centuries it has been the lingua franca of much of the Middle East. Aramaic is commonly identified with the language of Jesus Christ. The bulk of the Talmud, as well as the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, are written on it.

The advantages of studying it: it is not very different from biblical Hebrew, and therefore, by studying it, you can kill two birds with one stone. If this interests you, just imagine speaking the language of Jesus.

Disadvantages of studying it: No one speaks it, except for a few Aramaic communities.

When appeared: 1200 AD

Disappeared: 1470 AD

General information: on it you can read the works of the “father of English poetry” Geoffrey Chaucer, the Bible translated by Wycliffe, as well as the children’s ballads “The Exploits of Robin Hood,” which are considered early tales about the hero of the same name.

The advantages of studying it: it is the basis of modern English.

Disadvantages of studying it: you can't find anyone who can use it fluently.

5. Sanskrit

When appeared: 1500 BC

General information: still exists as a liturgical or ecclesiastical language. The Vedas and most of the scriptures are written on it. For three thousand years, Sanskrit was the lingua franca of the Hindustan Peninsula. Its alphabet consists of 49 letters.

The advantages of studying it: Sanskrit became the foundation of the religious texts of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Disadvantages of studying it: only priests and residents of some village settlements can speak it.

When appeared: 3400 BC

Disappeared: 600 BC

General information: It was in this language that the Book of the Dead was written, and the tombs of Egyptian rulers were also painted.

The advantages of studying it: this language is specifically for those who love difficult-to-understand hieroglyphs

Disadvantages of studying it: no one speaks it.

When appeared: 700 AD

Disappeared: 1300 AD

General information: The main work of German-Scandinavian mythology, the Edda, and a whole series of old Icelandic myths are written on it. This is the language of the Vikings. It was spoken in Scandinavia, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and in some areas of Russia, France, and the British Isles. It is considered a kind of predecessor of modern Icelandic.

The advantages of studying it: Once you learn Old Norse, you can pretend to be a Viking.

Disadvantages of studying it: Almost no one will understand you.

When appeared: 800 BC, which is also called the Renaissance. 75 BC and 3rd century AD It is considered to be the “golden” and “silver” periods of classical Latin. Then the existence of the era of medieval Latin began.

General information: in the original language you can read Cicero, Julius Caesar, Cato, Catullus, Virgil, Ovid, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

The advantages of studying it: Among dead languages, it is considered the most popular.

Disadvantages of studying it: Unfortunately, you can’t communicate on social networks or in real life. Although in societies of Latin lovers and in the Vatican you will have someone to talk to.

When appeared: 800 BC

Disappeared: 300 AD

General information: Knowing ancient Greek, you can easily read the works of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Herodotus, Euripides, Aristophanes and many others.

The advantages of studying it: you will not only expand your vocabulary and expand your consciousness, but you will also be able to read the ancient scripture on sex, written by Aristophanes.

Disadvantages of studying it: almost no one is fluent in it.

In former times, the language of some people disappeared as a result of disasters: floods, volcanic eruptions, great invasions. Now many languages ​​are slowly dying simply under the pressure of other, more widespread ones. In a large multilingual country, many people prefer to use the language of the main population, as it gives them a better chance of success in life. It happens that not only is there no teaching in a non-state language, but children are also prohibited from speaking it at school. This was the case, for example, with the Aboriginal language of Australia and the Welsh language in the south of England.

The death of a language is not only a great loss for those to whom it was native, it is an irreversible loss of a piece of the cultural heritage of all humanity, where each people expresses its unique, unique vision of the world. Therefore, UNESCO has now taken up the problem. This organization published the Atlas of the World's Endangered Languages ​​in 1996, on which the map shown here is based.

Black circles indicate languages ​​that have become extinct over the past 400 years. In addition, two more categories of languages ​​are shown: endangered and endangered. Threatened languages ​​(open circles) are those languages ​​that are no longer accessible to most children of a given nationality, and the youngest people who speak them are approaching middle age. Languages ​​spoken only by older people are considered endangered (shaded circles).

The map data is clearly incomplete. The current state of many languages ​​of the world, especially in remote areas of the Earth, is not known to linguists. But the map shows that there is not a single “prosperous” continent. Even in Europe, for example, languages ​​such as Norn (once spoken by the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands) and Manx (Isle of Man) have disappeared. They were replaced by English. In France, Breton and Provençal are dying out.

To save cultural heritage, linguists act in much the same way as zoologists saving “Red Book” species. The disappearing language is being urgently studied, its dictionaries, grammars, textbooks are being compiled, sound recordings of pronunciation, folklore, dialects are being made - in a word, everything is being done so that in the future scientists or simply descendants of people who spoke the disappeared language will be able to revive it. Another possible approach is to create an environment in which the language is most favorable in the area where it is still spoken.

According to one estimate, about 3,000 languages ​​are now under threat (and there are about 6,000 in total in the world). About one and a half thousand of the endangered languages ​​are well studied, and several hundred more will be studied in the coming decades. By the way, the cost of a detailed study of one language is five hundred times less than the cost of one modern tank.